The College of Engineering Appoints Associate Dean of Strategic Planning

The College of Engineering Appoints Associate Dean of Strategic Planning

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June 29, 2011

Dr. Bruce Eisenstein, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering, has appointed Dr. Jonathan Spanier to Associate Dean of Engineering for Strategic Planning. In this new role in the College, Jonathan will have responsibility for:

preparation of a strategic plan for the College;

maintaining an on-going strategic planning activity to seek out new opportunities and to capitalize on potentials for the benefit of the College;

leadership development within the College;

advising the dean concerning departmental activities;

working with Institutional Advancement to identify fundraising initiatives;

on-going collaborations with the associate/assistant deans and other administrative offices/committees as directed.

Jonathan received his PhD in applied physics (condensed matter) from Columbia University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University in physical chemistry. He also has accrued more than 11 years of professional experience in R&D at the Naval Research Laboratory (Physical Acoustics Branch) and in the semiconductor industry.

He joined the Drexel faculty in Materials Science and Engineering in 2003, where he is currently an associate professor, and since 2005 he holds an affiliate appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He served as Interim Associate Department Head for MSE from 2006-08, as MSE graduate program advisor in 2010, and as a Provost Fellow in 2009, supporting tasks in preparation for the Middle States accreditation visit. In his capacity as MSE graduate advisor, he revised and implemented new policies for guiding PhD students towards timely completion of milestones and progress towards their degree.

His current research is in electronic, photovoltaic and functional materials and devices, particularly complex oxides and nanowires. He also works in the area of scanning proximal probes, and inelastic light (Raman) scattering. He was honored to be asked to serve as a session chair in Warsaw as part of a European MRS meeting celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of its discoverer, C. V. Raman.

Jonathan has authored or co-authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications supported by a strong record of sponsored individual and team research, education and instrumentation grants from the NSF, ARO, AFOSR, ONR, NAVAIR, and others, including a number of SBIR/STTR collaborations with industry. He has received a number of awards and honors, including an ARO Young Investigator in 2004 and a PECASE in 2006, and he has served as a proposal reviewer for many federal research programs, including the NSF Science and Technology Centers. He has served annually for the past five years on the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship review panel for materials science and engineering.

Four former advisees (two graduate students and two postdocs) occupy tenure track faculty positions (including one at NC State), and two recent PhD graduates are now postdoctoral fellows, including an ASEE Industry Postdoctoral Fellow.

Jonathan currently leads renewable energy-themed technology commercialization and graduate educational programs at Drexel, including its participation in the Energy Commercialization Institute of the Commonwealth of PA, and the College-wide US Dept of Education-funded Graduate Assistantships in Areas of National Need for Renewable Energy Technology and Infrastructure Networks (RETAIN).

Jonathan is a co-founding editorial board member of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology (ISSN 1847-9804), a new online and open-access journal published by InTech.